Revolv Unites the Internet of Things in Your Smart Home – Review

With more and more connected devices being made available for home use, one has to wonder why can’t they all just get along?

I have a Nest Smart Learning Thermostat, WeMo Belkin Switches, Sonos Speaker and Philips Hue LED lights. Each time I want to use or make an adjustment to one of these, I have to open the individual app. The Hue and Sonos require a separate bridge to operate.

While my house is getting smarter, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that I’m going to need some sort of universal app for all of these devices!

One product that aims to help connect all these existing devices is the Revolv Hub. What I really like about it is that it doesn’t need to be connected via an Ethernet cable. You just plug it in, connect it to your Wi-Fi (using very cool FlashLink technology) and you’re good to go. The Revolv will search for your other enabled devices, or you can add them yourself.

Because it has several wireless radios – which means it can speak a bunch of different languages – it will eventually support hundreds of connected devices. For those interested, right now it supports Z-Wave, Insteon, and Wi-Fi with ZigBee coming soon, and a goal of supporting almost every off-the-shelf connected home device on the market. Those new protocols will come via a firmware update.

For me, that means it works with my Sonos, Hue lights, Nest thermostat and Belkin switches. I can use one app – the Revolv app – to control all these devices.

Even better, I can install the Revolv app on my husband’s iPad and he doesn’t have to deal with five or six different apps.

I can create actions with app, or set time-specific commands. For instance, I can tell it when it detects my front door opening, it should turn on the Hue lights. If it’s 5:00pm, it should start warming up the house.

Unfortunately, the hub itself is not very attractive with a red base and clear plastic top. It’s definitely something I would tuck away on a shelf where no one can see it.

If you don’t currently own any existing connected or smart devices, this may not be the product for you. But if, like me, you’ve started playing with this “Internet of Things” and own a few smart devices, this is a great solution for getting them all to play nicely.

The Revolv Hub works on iOS devices (Android and Windows coming in the future) and is available on Amazon for $299.